


if you ever wanna be in love (i'll come around)

by fraudulentzodiacs



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Found Family, M/M, Mutual Pining, basically my version of season two, jesse manes is a monster, lots of malex friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 13:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fraudulentzodiacs/pseuds/fraudulentzodiacs
Summary: Alex is through walking away, now he's going to prove it to Michael.





	if you ever wanna be in love (i'll come around)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reachedthebitterend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachedthebitterend/gifts).

> Writting for the wonderful Ly for her birthday! Basically just 6k words of Malex being dramatic af.

Alex waits at the Airstream for three hours before he gives up. They hadn’t set a time, but Alex had expected Michael to return to his home by the morning. It was now close to midday, and the sun was high in the sky as Alex drove away. Whatever had kept him away had kept him from answering his phone too, and he was starting to get worried. 

He drove straight to the Pony, the parking lot empty except for Maria’s truck. Things had been awkward between them since Michael and Maria’s romp in the desert, but Alex had been going to Maria with his problems for so long, he sought her out on instinct. Maria was behind the bar when he entered, stacking glasses as she prepared for the post-workday rush. She looked up as the door closed behind him, her eyes growing wide as she took him in. 

“Alex…” She greeted, and Alex didn’t miss the nervousness in her eyes as she busied herself with the glasses once again. “What are you doing here?”

“Have you seen Guerin?”

“Why?”

“We were supposed to meet. I…I don’t know, I thought we were finally on the same page. He told me last night to come to his trailer today but he never showed up and now he’s not answering his phone.”

Maria froze, staring at him, and Alex knew that she knew something she didn’t want to tell him. Alex felt his stomach clench as Maria leaned against the bar, taking a deep breath before she returned her gaze to him. 

“You saw Guerin last night?”

“You saw him today?” Alex ventures, Maria’s guilty gaze confirming his suspicions. “Is he okay?”

“He was…manic, almost. Something happened, I don’t know what. But his hand is healed, Alex. How does that just happen?”

“His hand is…”

“Yes, it’s like nothing ever happened to it.” Maria confirmed, shaking her head. “He stayed and played the guitar for a while, and then he ran out of here like a bat out of hell.”

“You haven’t heard from him since?”

“No. Alex, we need to talk.”

“If it’s about you and Guerin, we have nothing to talk about.” Alex snapped. “I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, Alex. I know you have feelings for him, but-”

“I love him.” Alex interrupted, fighting the urge to kick a nearby chair in anger. “I love him, I have since I was seventeen. And he loves me too. He chose you because he thinks it’ll be easier, and maybe it will be. Maybe he needs that right now. But I love him too much to walk away again, so don’t expect me to back down without a fight.”

“Alex…”

“I’m not leaving him behind again. Ever.” Alex replied, his voice firm. He turned back toward the door, his mind already working to think up where else he could be. “Let me know if you hear from him.”

Alex finds him, two hours later, at what used to be Foster’s Ranch. The Air Force hasn’t started building whatever kind of facility they’re planning on yet, so it’s still a whole bunch of nothing as far as the eye can see. Michael’s truck is a tiny, faded green dot until Alex nears it, something loosening in his chest when he spots Michael sitting on the tailgate. He doesn’t react to Alex driving up, or when Alex steps out, or when Alex gently pulls the empty bottle of acetone from Michael’s fingers. He just stares out at the horizon, his eyes blank but rimmed red. 

“What happened?” Alex finally asks, stepping into Michael’s line of sight. “Guerin, talk to me.”

“Rosa is alive.” Michael replies, and it’s the last thing that Alex expects to hear. His breath leaves him in one go, but the elation that starts to bubble out of him disappears as fresh tears fill Michael’s eyes. 

“What happened?”

“We found her in this cave - Noah’s cave, I guess. He was the fourth alien, by the way.” The lack of emotion in Michael’s voice as he describes how they had captured Noah, interrogated him, then killed him scares Alex to no small degree, but he forces himself to not say anything until Michael is done, not even when Michael tells him that he went to Maria.

“All of a sudden I felt this pain, like…like a part of me was being ripped apart. I thought I was having a heart attack, but then it was just gone. And I could feel it, this empty space in my head where Max used to be.”

“Used to be?” Alex’s voice is a whisper, and this time he lets himself reach for Michael, cradling the other man’s face with his hands as Michael shudders beneath his touch. 

“He’s dead. He died bringing Rosa back.”

“Oh, my god.” Alex’s thoughts briefly travel to Isobel, to Liz, but then he focuses on Michael, and he can feel the pain coming off of him in waves.

“Michael, I’m so sorry.” Alex lets his thumb trace Michael’s jaw, watching helplessly as Michael hyperventilates, his body racked with sobs until Alex steps between Michael’s legs, wrapping his arms around him. Michael clings to him, his arms snaking around Alex’s waist as he pulls him closer. He lets Michael cry against him, running his fingers through his curls before resting his cheek on the top of his head. He’s not sure how long he stands there, letting the man he loves fall apart against him, but the sun is lowering in the sky by the time Michael finally pulls away. 

“I’m sorry.” Michael mutters, but Alex tightens his hold on Michael before he can slip away. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for. You’re allowed to grieve your brother.”

“But I told you about Maria…” Michael begins, but Alex shakes his head. 

“And it hurts to know that you’re choosing her.” Alex feels his own heart break at his words, but he forces out a sharp breath before guiding Michael’s gaze back to him with his hands. “But I meant what I said. You’re my family, and I’ll always be here to put you back together if you need to fall apart.”

“Can we…stay out here? Just for a little while?”

“Of course.” Alex steps over to his SUV, pulling out the blankets he kept stored in the back while Michael spreads his own across the bed of the truck. It’s more difficult to climb into the back with his prosthetic than when he was a teen, but they manage until they’re both propped against the cab, and Alex can feel the warmth that Michael radiates across his thigh and leg where they’re touching. Alex watches the horizon until the sun disappears completely, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders as the stars appear. 

“Do you remember when we used to come out here?” Michael asks, and Alex smiles and nods. 

“I remember. I was so sure that I was reading the signs wrong, that you invited me out here because I was nice to you and let you stay in the toolshed.”

“I asked you out here because I wanted to kiss you, but I was too afraid to admit it.”

“Do you think things could have been different? If we hadn’t…been so afraid?”

“Maybe.” Michael admits, shrugging. “Guess we’ll never know.”

“If you do this, if you choose Maria…”

“Alex-”

“No, let me finish, please.” Alex looks to the stars, and waits until Michael finally whispers an “okay.”

“If you choose Maria, I’ll understand. But, I want you to know, I also meant what I said when I told you that I was tired of walking away. I’ve done it so many times it’s become my nature. Being with Maria is easier, and maybe you want easy now but I don’t. I want you, and I’m gonna be here when you discover that easy isn’t what you really want. You’re it for me, Guerin.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say so many words at once.” Michael quips, and Alex shoves him with a wet laugh.

“You know that I love you.” Michael admits, refusing to meet Alex’s gaze. “I always wear my heart on my sleeve when it comes to you. But, with your dad, and my mom, and now Max…” Michael pauses, takes a shuddering breath. “I can’t take the risk of us finally giving it a shot and then you leave again. This time, I don’t think I’d survive it. And Maria, she’s…well, she’s something new, something that’s not tainted by all the bullshit that’s infected our lives. I think I owe it to myself to try.”

“I get it.” Alex reaches for Michael’s healed hand, running his fingers over the smooth skin. “I don’t like it, but I get it. I can’t blame you. But I’m not walking away, I just want you to know that. Whether we’re together or not, you’re never going to be alone again. I promise.”

—-

When Alex sees Michael with Maria the first time, his heart breaks in a way he’s not quite expecting. There’s an ache, a longing when he sees Michael’s hand on the small of her back. He leans down to talk in her ear over the noise of the crowd, and Alex feels like the breath is knocked out of him when she smiles and pushes him away with a flirty laugh. There’s happiness shining in Michael’s eyes when he looks at her, and suddenly Alex can’t remember if Michael ever looked at him like that - like he was the bright spot in Michael’s day. It hurts, but he had made a promise to Michael, and he intended to keep it.

“Hey.” he greeted, sliding into a stool near the edge of the bar where Michael was standing. 

“Alex.” Maria replied, her eyes wide with shock. “It’s good to see you. Beer?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Private.” Michael slides into the seat next to Alex, grabbing the whiskey that Maria sets in front of him when she hands Alex his beer. 

“Cowboy.” Alex replies, a small smile on his face. The beer is cold and soothing, and something loosens in Alex’s chest as they fall into a comfortable silence, broken only when Liz and Isobel enter the bar. The two women have, much to Alex’s surprise, grown close in the weeks since Max’s death. He thinks it’s more out of necessity than anything else - both are convinced that Max can be resurrected in a way similar to how he brought back Rosa, and Alex knows that when Liz isn’t at work she’s in the lab underneath Michael’s Airstream, working on a solution to beat death. 

If anyone can do it, Alex muses, it’s Liz Ortecho and Isobel Evans. 

They wander to a large booth when Rosa arrives, still getting curious stares from the bar’s patrons despite the fact that the world now knows her as Elena Ortecho, Liz’s cousin from Santa Fe who looks remarkably like Liz’s dead sister and _isn’t that a coincidence_? Alex finds himself pressed in between Liz and Rosa, who talk over him animatedly about the wonder that Rosa has discovered that is Netflix. It’s crowded and loud and uncomfortable but for the first time in what seems like forever Alex doesn’t feel lonely. When he looks across the table at Michael, their eyes lock and Alex knows that Michael feels the same. 

—

Alex is there when Isobel brings Max back, Kyle and Jenna by his side as she and Michael will their powers to heal Max until he’s gasping for breath, his eyes popping open and Liz rushing to him, a sob escaping her. Kyle claps a hand on Alex’s shoulder, and Alex returns the friendly gesture with a smile. They watch as Isobel and Liz cling to Max, who still looks confused and lost but he’s alive when he had been dead, so Alex counts it as a win. Michael stands up, shaky but he looks as if a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders as he stumbles to Alex, throwing himself into his arms. Alex responds instinctively, gathering Michael in his arms. 

“He’s back.” Michael whispers into Alex’s shoulder, and Alex nods. 

“Yeah, he is.”

“Max, what’s wrong?” Liz’s concerned voice carries through the cave, and Michael pulls away to stare at where Max has moved away from Liz and Isobel, pressing himself against the cave wall with a panicked look in his eyes. 

“Who’s Max?”

Two hours later, Isobel and Liz have convinced Max to come with them to his house, hoping that the familiar surroundings will spark his memories. Kyle and Jenna leave with them, heading to the bunker to see if there’s anything in Project Shepherd’s files about the pods causing amnesia. Alex stays behind with Michael, who hadn’t stopped studying the pods since Max had looked at him and not known his own brother. 

“Guerin…” Alex tries, standing behind Michael as he crouched in front of the pods. “How can I help?”

“It should have worked.” Michael mutters.

“It _did _work. Max is alive.”

“Yeah, but he’s not Max.”

“He is. This could just be temporary, we don’t know.”

“When we came out of the pods, we didn’t remember anything about our old lives. But Rosa remembered, so why doesn’t Max?”

“Maybe it’s because Rosa was human? Or the fact that she was in Noah’s broken pod? Noah knew who he was, after all.”

“I was just so sure…”

“Hey.” Alex stuck his hand under Michael’s arm, hauling him up until they were standing face to face. “You brought Max back from the _dead_, Michael. That’s not nothing. You didn’t fail him, you saved him. And we’ll figure this out together. We’ll get his memories back.”

“Yeah.” Michael replied after a long moment, staring at Alex as if he holds all the answers to the universe. Alex fights the urge to reach out and touch him, to hug him like he had just hours earlier, when Michael had seemed so happy that he was going to burst. Alex would do anything to keep Michael that happy forever. 

The silence of the cave is broken by Michael’s cell phone, and Alex doesn’t miss Maria’s face on the display.

“I better take this.” He mumbles, and Alex nods as Michael steps toward the cave entrance. 

“Hey babe.” He greets, and Alex turns to face the pods on the chance that Michael will turn around and see the tears in his eyes. 

—

It’s been three weeks and Max still doesn’t have his memories back. Alex has poured through every file Project Shepherd has, but since none of the aliens they captured had been in pods, there was little to no research on them or how they worked. Max himself seemed to be adjusting to his circumstances, but Michael was spiraling again and Alex didn’t know what to do about it. 

“You need to rest.” Jenna interrupted his thoughts, leaning against the desk as Alex leaned back, rubbing his hands on his face. 

“There’s gotta be something in here that can help Max.”

“You need to accept that there might not be a way to fix this, Alex. The amnesia was permanent the first time they came out of the pods, it’s probably permanent this time. Max will adjust, Liz will adjust.”

“And Michael?”

“Honestly? That shouldn’t be your problem.” Jenna shrugged. “I know you two have a past, but he’s with DeLuca now. I get that you’re trying to be his friend or whatever, but you have to think about yourself too.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with your feelings for another alien would it?” Alex asks, and Jenna scoffs as she rolls her eyes.

“I don’t know how I convinced myself for more than five minutes that what I was feeling was romantic. Max was…easy, for a long time. But who wants easy forever?” Jenna pushed off of the desk, tugging Alex’s jacket until he stood up and followed her to the door. “Easy for one night, however, might do us both some good. You’re buying me a drink, Airman, and then we’re getting laid.”

“You do know that I’m gay, right?” 

“I didn’t say we would be getting laid together, did I?”

Alex lets Jenna drag him to the Pony, claiming a pool table while she goes to grab the first round. He spots the guy at the nearby table staring at him almost immediately, but chooses to ignore it in favor of wiping the floor with Jenna in the first two rounds. When Kyle shows up, Alex lets him take over, sipping his beer as he watches them flirt via pool. 

“Either you’re really good or she’s really bad.” A voice calls, and Alex looks up to find the man from earlier walking closer. 

“Oh, she’s good.” Alex replies, holding the beer bottle close to his lips. “I’m just better.”

“I’m Jacob.” The man offers his hand, and Alex takes it, both of them perhaps lingering a bit too long. 

“Alex.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Alex.”

They make their way to Jacob’s apartment, fumbling and awkward, but Jacob doesn’t flinch when he sees Alex’s prosthetic, simply waits quietly next to Alex on the bed to see if he’ll explain. 

“I lost it in Iraq, a few years ago.”

“You’re a vet?” Jacob asks, and Alex nods. 

“Air Force.”

“Marines.” Jacob supplies. “Two tours.”

“I’ll understand if you change your mind.” Alex offers, but Jacob only smiles and snakes his hand into Alex’s hair. 

“I’ve seen you at the Pony before, you know. Took me three times to get up the courage to talk to you. Why would I walk away now?”

Alex leans in to kiss Jacob. It’s nothing like kissing Michael, but it’s nice and Jacob’s nice and he can hear Jenna’s voice telling him_ You deserve to be happy too_ and he leans into the kiss. 

When Alex left that night with Jacob, he assumed it would be a one night stand. So, when Jacob texted him the next afternoon asking to see him again, Alex wasn’t sure what to feel. He was still in love with Michael, but Michael was with Maria. He liked Jacob, but wasn’t sure if it was fair to pursue something with him knowing that he still had feelings for Michael. 

“You’ll probably always have feelings for Michael.” Isobel told him over lunch the next day, stealing a fry off of his plate and dipping it in her milkshake. “Just like he has feelings for you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness somewhere else. You’re capable of having feelings for more than one person at a time.”

And so, before Alex can fully comprehend what’s happening, he has a boyfriend who’s not Michael Guerin. 

—

The first time Alex brings Jacob around everyone else, he’s not quite sure what to expect. They’re all gathered at Isobel’s house for game night, and Alex probably should have thought it through more because, by the time they get to Uno, Isobel and Michael are so competitive that Liz has to kick Isobel under the table when it becomes clear that she’s two seconds away from mindwarping her brother so she can win. 

“Your friends are a little…intense.” Jacob points out while they were out on Isobel’s patio, taking a break while Liz and Maria set up Twister. 

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“No, don’t be. I like them. Not sure they like me, though.”

“They’re just not used to new people. You have to understand, literally everyone in that room went to high school together. We’ve known each other practically our whole lives.”

“Well, I’m glad that I know you now.” Jacob pulled on Alex’s belt loop until he was closer, a flirty grin on his face before he leaned in to kiss him softly, chaste until Alex wound his arm around Jacob’s waist, changing the angle and deepening the kiss. They jump apart when the sound of glass shattering fills the air, turning to find Isobel staring at Michael, broken glasses between them where he had been helping his sister pour margaritas. 

“God Michael, you’re such a klutz.” Isobel covered, glancing quickly at Alex before shuffling Michael inside. 

“Yeah, sorry.” Michael muttered, pain in his eyes that Alex couldn’t miss that felt like a punch to the gut. 

“How long did you and Michael date?” Jacob asks later, once they’re settling into bed at Jacob’s apartment. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s pretty clear you guys used to have a thing. I was just curious.”

“We didn’t…I guess, technically, we never dated. It’s complicated.” Alex turns onto his side and stares at Jacob, who turns his head to look back at him. “You don’t need to be worried.”

“I’m not.” Jacob confirms. “I like you Alex, a lot.”

“I like you too.” Alex scooted closer, pressing himself against Jacob’s side. “A lot.”

“Good.”

—

Alex knew it was a mistake to allow Flint and Hunter to see their dad, but he’d been in the coma for over six months and a world without Jesse Manes was becoming more and more comfortable. So, he chaperones them as they visit their comatose father, the great Jesse Manes reduced to a sad man in a hospital bed with a machine breathing for him. 

Three days after the visit, Jesse disappears. 

Alex is livid, and frantic, and he can’t explain his behavior to Jacob, just like he can’t explain where he goes to work every day, and why Max is an amnesiac, or why it’s such a Big Deal that his brothers have seemingly walked off with his insane, violent, monster of a father. Not without cluing him into everything alien, and that’s not his secret to tell. 

His friends gather at the bunker, talking over one another as they discuss every way that Jesse Manes could destroy them, and Alex just sits the argument gets more and more heated until Michael’s voice booms over the crowd. 

“Hey!” He yells, and everyone jumps but looks to him. “Alex, is there any way for you to track your brothers?”

“Maybe, but they’ll know how to stay under the radar. And if they’ve woken my father up…”

“We have to assume they have.” Kyle agrees. “Why else would they take him?”

“How long would it take for Jesse to recover?” Maria asks, finally in the know about the Big Alien Secret. 

“He was in a coma for six months. A few weeks, at least, with all the muscle loss.”

“Okay, so, they had to take him to a place where he could heal.” Liz replies, and Alex shakes his head. 

“That could be anywhere, honestly. We’ve been researching for months and we’ve only scratched the surface of how deep Project Shepherd goes.” Alex can hear the frustration in his voice, and pushes away from the group to pace in front of the computers. He can feel Michael join him almost immediately, and a hand on his elbow stops his pacing. 

“We’re gonna figure this out.” Michael assures him. “We’ll do it together, like always.”

“Yeah.” Alex says, sighing and leaning into Michael’s space. 

He sees Maria over Michael’s shoulder, thinks of Jacob, and pulls away. 

There’s nothing for several weeks. No warnings, no demands, and no sign of the Manes men. Alex doesn’t relax, exactly, but being on constant alert is exhausting and he can only go for so long before he collapses in a heap on his bed. Jacob wakes him up a few hours later, a rough shake on his shoulder that has him sitting up immediately. 

“Alex, you need to see this.” Jacob shoves Alex’s phone into his hands, where there’s a text message from an unknown number. “I know you’ve been worried about something, and I know you can’t tell me what, but I thought I should wake you when I heard your phone go off.”

Alex unlocks the phone, opens the text message, and nearly drops it at the picture attached. It’s Michael, tied to a chair, bruised and bloody and unconscious. 

Come alone. The text reads. Short, to the point, and Alex knows that it’s his father. 

“It’s Michael, isn’t it?”

“I have to go.” Alex launches himself from the bed, forgetting momentarily that he took his prosthetic off before falling asleep. Jacob is there to catch him, easing him back down onto the bed. 

“Let me help you.” Jacob offers, reaching for the prosthetic and attaching it with practiced ease. Alex doesn’t have the capacity to recognize the intimacy of Jacob’s movements. The only other person who had ever helped him with his prosthetic had been Michael, and now he’s….

“Thank you.” Alex mumbles, taking Jacob’s hand as he stands up. “I’m sorry I can’t explain, but I have to go. Michael’s in trouble.”

“I know.” Jacob replies. 

“I’ll be back.” Alex assures him, and Jacob shakes his head. 

“I won’t be here.”

“What?”

“Michael is your person, Alex.” Jacob replies. “I know you’re not in a place to act on it, but it’s clear as day. I thought maybe you’d move on - move on with me. But you’re never going to, are you?”

“He’s my friend and he’s in trouble.” Alex points out.

“I know, but he’s also the love of your life.”

“I can’t…I can’t have this conversation right now.”

“There’s never going to be a good time to end this.” Jacob replies. “But I’m here for you, as a friend. Let me help you both.”

“Jacob, I’m sorry.” Alex sighs, squeezing the hand he’s still holding in his own. “I really am.”

“I know.” Jacob smiles, despite the sadness in his eyes, but then Alex watches as a steeliness takes over his face. A determination that gives Alex a glimpse of Jacob’s military past. “Now, how can I help?”

—

Despite Jesse’s warning to come alone, Alex isn’t stupid so the first thing he does is call Isobel and Liz, who bring everyone to Alex’s cabin. Everyone is frantic, and Alex realizes that Michael is the glue that holds them all together. He’s what makes them a family, and in that moment he knows he’ll do whatever it takes to get him back. He’s never doubted his love for Michael, not really, but he knows in this moment that Michael is a part of him, a piece of his soul that he could never get rid of. He loves him, will love him until the day he dies, and he’s going to save him from Jesse Manes now in a way that he couldn’t when he was seventeen. 

They make a plan, and it all hinges on Alex’s ability to distract his father long enough for Maria, Max, Jacob, and Kyle to subdue Flint and Hunter, then get Isobel close enough to turn Jesse’s brain into mush. Liz and Rosa grumble about being the lookouts, but the arguments are short as everyone focuses on getting Michael back. It doesn’t take long for Alex to track the burner phone - something his father counted on, no doubt. They’re an hour or so outside of Roswell, in a warehouse that’s owned by a shell company that Alex is sure belongs to his father. Alex drives alone in his SUV, everyone else in separate vehicles and on different routes. Alex squeezes the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turn white, his mind racing through the number of possibilities and outcomes and the best way to get everyone out of this alive. Outwitting his father, staying two steps ahead of him, has always been difficult or impossible, but this is _Michael_, and Alex refuses to allow his father to harm him ever again. He’s going to kill him for this, if given the opportunity. 

He’s going to make sure that Jesse Manes never harms Alex’s family ever again. 

When he arrives, Flint is waiting at the entrance. 

“You’re alone?”

“Yeah, Flint, I’m alone. Where is Michael?”

“Inside.”

“Is he okay?”

“It’s alive.” Flint replies, and Alex fought the urge to punch his brother. 

“Michael’s not an _it_, he’s a person. A good person.”

“They’re all monsters Alex. How can you defend them?”

“You don’t know anything about them!”

“Oh, and you do?”

“Yes, I do actually.” Alex snaps. 

“Oh that’s right.” Flint replies with a smirk. “Dad said you’d fallen in love with this one.”

“I know emotions are a foreign concept to you.”

“Feelings make you weak, make you vulnerable. That’s why you’re here now to beg for the life of some thing that has tricked you into caring about it.”

“Just take me to him, Flint.”

Flint pats him down for weapons, and then guides him into the warehouse where they’ve set up a makeshift base, now that Alex and his friends have co-opted the bunker. Michael is sitting in the middle of the room, chained to the same chair from the picture, but now Michael can see the yellow powder surrounding him in a circle, and he knows that their plan to have Isobel mindwarp his father won’t work. If they’ve got a circle around Michael, it’s a good bet that the pollen is surrounding the building. His father is never one to take chances. 

“Michael…” Alex starts toward the other man, but Flint’s hand on his chest stops him. 

“Welcome son.” Alex turns to see Jesse walking toward him, leaning heavily on a cane but decidedly more alive than he had been the last time Alex had seen him. 

“I’m not your son.” Alex snaps, and his ire rises even more when Jesse chuckles. Alex’s voice, however, seems to rouse Michael, who looks up groggily, confusion evident as he looks to Alex. 

“‘Lex?” He asks, and Alex nods. 

“Yeah, I’m here.” Alex assures him, and Michael shakes his head. 

“Shouldn’t have come.”

“I’ll always come for you.” Alex promises, tears burning in his eyes. 

“Aw, how sweet.” Flint remarks, and Alex shoves him out of his space. 

“What do you want?” Alex asks Jesse, who shrugs. 

“I want what I’ve always wanted. To rid the planet of the alien menace threatening its very existence.”

“Michael and his family aren’t a menace.” Alex snarls. “You are!”

“He’s twisted your mind, don’t you see? Turned you against your own family.”

“He _is _my family, more than any of you have ever been.”

“No, you’re _my _son, and it’s time you take your rightful place in our family.”

“You never wanted me near any of this until I took Project Shepherd away from you!” Alex counters. “You didn’t even suspect Michael until you found us together!”

“Three amnesiac kids wandering the desert near the crash site? Of course I suspected them son. I’ve watched them for twenty years. They’re murderers, they killed Rosa Ortecho.”

“_Noah Bracken_ killed Rosa Ortecho! You want your murderous fourth alien? There he is.”

“Bracken’s been missing for months. Where is he?”

“You figure it out.” Alex snaps, and Jesse chuckles. 

“So who killed him? Guerin?”

“Does it matter? Seems like someone did you a favor.”

“It just proves that they’re all murderers.” Flint points out. 

“They did it to protect this planet, their home.”

“This will _never _be their home.” Jesse replies, and Alex prays that he doesn’t notice him slowly moving toward Michael, trying to get between him and Jesse. 

“It’s the only home they’ve ever known. All they want is to live in peace, and you want to imprison or kill all of them. I’m not going to let that happen.”

“What, exactly, do you think you’re going to do here, son?”

“What I should’ve done ten years ago. I’m going to protect the people I love from your hate.”

In that moment, the back entrance bursts open, Hunter in front with his hands in the air. Jacob is immediately behind him, gun pointed at Hunter’s head as Max and Kyle follow behind them. 

“Let me guess, the gang’s all here?” Jesse muses. “You never did take orders well.”

“I take orders.” Alex replies. “Just not from you. Ever again.”

“Alex, the pollen…” Kyle points out, and Alex nods as Maria and Isobel come through the front door. 

“If you were planning on having that thing warp my mind, you’re out of luck.”

“I could just shoot you.” Kyle replies. “You shot me, after all.”

“Should’ve gone for the head.” Jesse snaps. It’s minute, but Alex sees his father gesture to Flint, and Jacob must see it too because he drops his gun, pointing it at Flint as he slips another weapon to Hunter, who points the gun directly at Jesse. 

“Hunter…?” Alex starts, and Hunter shoots him a small smile. 

“This has gone too far, Alex.” Hunter replies. “I’m through killing for him.”

“You were always weak too.” Jesse snarls. 

“Seems to me that you’re the only weak one here.” Isobel replies. “Hiding behind your sons, expecting them to do your dirty work. Killing innocent people because they’re different than you, maiming a boy because he dared to love your son. You’re pathetic, and I don’t need to turn your brain to soup for us to bring you down.”

“It’s over.” Alex tells him, and Jesse shakes his head. 

“No, it’s over when every last one of them is dead. Starting with him.”

Alex watches as Jesse pulls the gun from Flint’s holster, pointing it directly at Michael. Alex doesn’t think, just acts as he puts himself in the line of fire between his father and Michael. Gets between them like he wished he had all those years ago, take the pain for Michael because he’s suffered enough. 

If he has to die so Michael can live, he’s okay with that. 

He’s been shot before, but this feels different. This one hits him square in the chest, and pain blossoms to every inch of his body. He doesn’t collapse, not immediately, so he’s upright and conscious enough to watch as Max and Hunter tackle Jesse to the ground. He sees Maria hit Flint on the back of the head with the baseball bat she keeps stashed under the bar at the Pony. He hears the sound of metal against metal and turns to see Jacob shooting the chains holding Michael until he comes free. Michael lunges for Alex, and it’s only then that he finally collapses into Michael, letting him guide him to the ground. 

“Alex, come on, you’re okay.” Michael assures him, pressing his hand against the wound in his chest. “Stay with me, you’re gonna be okay.”

“Miserable liar.” Alex wheezes as his breathing gets more erratic.

“Max, you have to heal him!”

“I can’t, especially with the pollen!” Max argues, and Alex remembers that Max hasn’t been able to heal much more than a paper cut since he came out of the pod. 

“It’s okay.” Alex assures him, because it is. They’re all safe, Michael’s safe, and that’s all that matters to Alex. 

“No, it’s not!” Michael snaps, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Why did you do that, Alex? Why?”

“I don’t look away. I love you.”

“Don’t! Don’t tell me goodbye again, damn it.” Michael presses his forehead against Alex’s. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“We have to get him out of here.” Kyle argues, and Alex is just barely hanging onto consciousness as Michael fights to keep him in his arms. “Guerin, I might be able to help him if we can get out of here.”

“Okay, okay…” Michael mutters, and that’s when it all goes dark. 

—

Alex wakes slowly, first for brief moments and then for longer stretches. Each time, however, Alex recognizes Michael’s presence. He’s holding his hand, or reading to him, or just talking as if Alex could respond. It’s familiar and comforting, and Alex rests better knowing that Michael is fine. 

He’s slow to heal, but Michael is there every step of the way, along with the rest of their makeshift family. Isobel hovers, but makes sure that nobody asks too many questions about how, exactly, Alex got shot. Max and Jacob act like self-appointed bodyguards. Kyle runs every test known to man in an attempt to make sure Alex suffers zero complications (and Alex doesn’t miss the looks that pass between Jacob and Kyle when they think no one’s looking). Rosa and Liz make sure that everyone eats. And Maria…well, Maria is Alex’s best friend once again. She’s comforting when he needs it, and pushes him when necessary. After Michael, she’s around the most, but it’s only when they’re alone a few days after he’s finally allowed to go home that they really talk. 

“You know Michael and I broke up, right?” Maria asks as she props some pillows behind him on the couch. “I wasn’t sure if anyone told you with everything going on.”

Alex shakes his head, and Maria groans. 

“Stupid, self-sacrificing cowboy.” Maria mutters, shoving the pillow a little harder than necessary.

“Please don’t tell me you broke up because I…”

“We broke up because he doesn’t love me.” Maria tells him, sighing and sitting on the couch, dropping his legs across her lap. “I mean, he does. But he loves me because what we have is easy. And he loves you so much he’d burn the world down to keep you safe. And it’s the same for you. Hell, you took a literal bullet for him. And I want that kind of love, I deserve it, and I’ll never get that from easy.”

That night, Michael shows up with dinner like he does every night. They’ve settled into a routine since he’s come home, one of their family comes by during the day while Michael is at work, but Alex always ends the day with Michael. They eat dinner, watch a movie, and then Alex goes to bed while Michael sleeps on the couch. 

Alex is determined that tonight’s going to go differently. 

When Michael walks through the door, Alex is waiting in the nicest shirt and jeans that he has, his hair artfully tousled and the beard he had been growing is finally groomed. Michael stops and takes him in, a fond smile on his face that Alex isn’t sure how he missed. 

“You look nice.” Michael greets, and Alex uses his crutch help himself off of the couch. 

Michael rushes to set the groceries down to help him, his hand grasping Alex’s elbow as he moves closer. Alex uses the opportunity to reach up and cup Michael’s face with his free hand, pushing into his space and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. Michael freezes and Alex pulls away, afraid that Maria was wrong and he’s misread the entire situation. That Michael truly is just trying to be a friend. But, he’s determined to be brave, so he doesn’t remove his hand from Michael’s face after he pulls away. 

“I love you.” He tells him, refusing to look away from Michael. “I’m in love with you. I don’t know how to be anyone else but the man who loves you more than anything. I know we have all of the bullshit in our past, but I’m tired of letting my past dictate my future. I want to be with you, and I need you to know that, even if you don’t want me.”

“Alex.” Michael sighs, closing his eyes, and Alex feels his heart break at the fear that Michael is going to reject him. “I’ve wanted you for so long that I don’t know what it’s like to not want you. That’s never been the problem, I’ll always want you. But you walked away so many times, I tried to build a wall around my heart to keep you out. I tried to fall in love with someone else, and I did, I really did. But the problem is, you can’t build a wall to keep out something that’s already inside, you know?” Alex gasps when he feels Michael’s hands rest on his neck, squeezing gently. 

“I was always afraid that something was going to happen, that you were going to walk away again, but you’re not, are you?” Alex shakes his head, and he reaches up to wipe away the stray tear that falls down Michael’s cheek with his thumb. “You stayed, and you’ve been here, and I never would have made it through the last six months without you. You almost died for me, Alex. You took a bullet for me, when a few months ago I didn’t think that there was anyone on this planet who gave a shit about me. And I don’t want easy anymore. I want something real, and you mean everything to me. I love you. I only want to be with you.”

A wet laugh escapes Alex as he clings tighter to Michael, resting his forehead against the other man’s. He breathes him in, feeling like the last piece of his soul is finally set into place. 

_Pieces want to be together. _

He remembers Michael telling him that in the bunker, and he smiles as he moves to kiss Michael again, simply because he can. 


End file.
